Graduate salaries creep upwards

Salaries for graduates obtaining qualifications in the last academic year crept up by £1,000 to an average of £18,000, according to the latest data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (Hesa).

The salary figures include all jobs reported by full-time first-degree higher education graduates, of which 49% of the 189,000 whose career history was known to Hesa were willing to disclose their salaries.

Of those students, 29% - up 1% on the previous year - were in associate professional posts or technical occupations and a consistent 25% were in professional occupations.

However, 16% - a 1% decline - had found themselves in administrative and secretarial occupations and a consistent 11% had found jobs in sales and customer service.

Of the graduates whose career paths were known to HESA, 63% were in full-time work, 16% were studying full-time, 8% were both working and studying and 7% were unemployed.

The rate of unemployment among the 4,200 full- and part-time foundation degree graduates was lower, at 3%. Of the graduates, 35% went straight into full-time jobs, compared to 36% the previous year, and 27% were both working and studying, compared to 26% the year before. The proportion of students in full-time study dropped, by 1% to 32%.

Of the graduates in teacher training, 90% had been able to secure a teaching post, compared to 89% the previous year.

The president of the NUS, Gemma Tumelty, said: "The government has consistently justified the introduction of top-up fees with the assumption that graduates will earn considerably more than non-graduates when they leave university, and will therefore be able to pay back huge amounts of debt."

"However, as this research shows, not all students enter into highly paid jobs straight away, if at all, and paying back student loans will put a massive strain on their finances."